Can You Retake a Certification Exam? Retake Policies Explained

Failing a certification exam is frustrating, but it is far more common than most candidates admit publicly. The real question is: what happens next? Every major certification program has a retake policy, and understanding the certification exam retake policy for your specific credential saves you time, money, and avoidable stress. This guide covers the retake rules for the most widely pursued certifications.

AWS Certification Retake Policy

AWS allows you to retake an exam after a 24-hour waiting period following a failed attempt. If you fail a third time, the wait period extends to 14 days before you can attempt again. There is no published cap on the total number of attempts, but each retake requires purchasing a new exam at full price, which ranges from $100 for the Cloud Practitioner to $300 for Professional exams.

AWS does not provide a breakdown of which specific questions you answered incorrectly. You receive a score report showing performance by domain, which means your retake preparation must be targeted at the domains where you scored lowest.

Microsoft Azure Certification Retake Policy

Microsoft follows essentially the same structure as AWS. After a failed first attempt, you must wait 24 hours before rebooking. After failing the same exam three times within a 12-month period, you must wait 14 days before each subsequent attempt. Microsoft exam prices typically sit between $165 and $180 USD, and each retake is charged at full price unless you purchased a retake bundle or have a Microsoft Certification exam voucher with retake included.

CompTIA Retake Policy

CompTIA's policy is slightly more forgiving on the first attempt: there is no mandatory waiting period after failing for the first time. Starting with the second failed attempt, you must wait 14 calendar days before trying again. This 14-day wait applies to all subsequent attempts as well. CompTIA exams are priced between $239 and $499 depending on the certification, and there are no free retakes included in standard vouchers.

PMP Retake Policy

The Project Management Professional certification has one of the more structured retake policies in the industry. PMI allows up to three attempts within your one-year eligibility window. If you fail all three attempts, you must wait one year from your first failed attempt before reapplying, which means resubmitting the application and paying the full application fee again. The exam fee for PMI members is $405 and $555 for non-members per attempt.

CISSP Retake Policy

ISC2 requires a 30-day waiting period after each failed CISSP attempt. You can attempt the exam up to four times per 12-month period. After four failed attempts in a year, you must wait 12 months before trying again. The CISSP exam fee is $749 per attempt globally, making efficient preparation financially critical before rebooking.

Scrum.org PSM Retake Policy

Scrum.org stands out from the rest: Professional Scrum Master (PSM I) assessments have no retake fee. The assessment is entirely free to retake, though you must wait 14 days after a failed attempt. This makes the PSM I one of the most low-risk certifications to attempt without extensive preparation, though the exam is harder than its free nature might suggest.

The Real Cost of Retakes

Beyond the exam fee itself, retakes cost you time. Most candidates spend 30–60 additional hours preparing for a retake, on top of the time already invested. For high-stakes exams like the CISSP or PMP, a failed attempt can set your career goals back by months. Calculating the full cost of a retake — fees plus hours plus delayed credential — makes a strong case for investing heavily in preparation the first time.

• AWS / Azure: 24-hour wait after first fail, 14-day wait after third fail. ~$100–$300 per attempt.
• CompTIA: No wait after first fail, 14-day wait from second fail onward. ~$239–$499 per attempt.
• PMP: 3 attempts per eligibility year, then 1-year reset. ~$405–$555 per attempt.
• CISSP: 30-day wait between each attempt, 4 per year max. ~$749 per attempt.
• Scrum.org PSM I: Free retakes, 14-day wait after failure.

How to Prepare Smarter Before Retaking

The biggest mistake candidates make before a retake is repeating the same study approach that did not work the first time. If you studied primarily through video courses and failed, your retake prep should shift heavily toward active practice — answering questions under timed conditions and reviewing every explanation carefully.

Certify Copilot is built exactly for this stage. Its AI-powered practice engine generates questions aligned to the domains where you need the most work, and delivers clear explanations that help you understand why answers are right or wrong — not just what the correct answer is. Candidates preparing for a retake consistently report that targeted practice with solid answer explanations is what finally pushes them over the passing threshold.

Give yourself enough time before rebooking. Registering for a retake the day after a failed attempt and planning only a few days of additional study is rarely sufficient. Review your score report, identify the weakest domains, and build a structured plan around them.